2021 Fall Psyclone

February 20, 2022

The longest running departmental newsletter on campus. Written by students.

Greetings:

Hello everyone! We hope that this Fall Semester has been good to all of you. This semester may have started rough, but we hope that you have gotten on track after this eventful semester.

This semester we have had a productive beginning of the academic year. We had very well attended welcome events for all students interested in psychology, as well as those who have already decided to join us during their college careers, taking on a major or minor.

Additionally, this year we had two great speakers to this semester’s psychology forums. This year we were given the chance to hear from Delores Johnson, from the Human Resources Department at Goshen College, to talk about how psychology can be integrated into HR. Cambrae Fox, a music therapist at South Bend Memorial Hospital, also joined us to talk about how she integrates music, psychology, and therapy into her work. These speakers did a great job at giving students a great understanding of their work and the wide variety of fields in which psychology can be applied.

Fall Semester Forum Speakers

As mentioned previously, this year two speakers were invited to speak at the psychology forums, which occur 4 times per semester. they were able to very effectively discuss their work, and how psychology may be integrated into their work. This gives all the students who attended the forum a new insight and understanding on how psychology may be in different areas.

Delores Johnson, part of the HR department at Goshen College, discussed how her work integrates psychology in an in-depth analysis and overview of how she works. Previously, there has been a wide range of discussion on the overlaps between Industrial Organizational Psychology and how it may apply into HR, and while that was not the focus, students were able to see some insight into its use in Delores’ presentation. She also clearly mentioned the work of her department and gave students great tips as to how to understand HR. One of the most significant aspects she mentioned is the idea of gathering information, even informally, to understand the workplace and why people begin to work and why they may leave. This provides great understanding on the job environments, and the possible satisfaction levels and well-being of each employee in a workplace.

Our second speaker this semester was Cambrae Fox who is a music therapist at South Bend Memorial Children’s Hospital. She works with a wide range of ages, from newborns in the NICU to teenagers on the PEDS floor. Cambrae defined music therapy as “using music to achieve non-musical goals; using music as your therapeutic medium.” Cambrae is actually the person who started the music therapy program at Memorial. In her presentation, Cambrae explained how she uses music to do things in a medical setting such as decrease pain, process emotions, promote a sense of control, and much more.

In the Research:

As college students, and humans in general, memory is significantly important. This is especially true when absorbing and gathering new information is an everyday occurrence. Recently, researchers have focused on memory and what kinds of factors may impact the ability to remember information which, as college students, is incredibly important and applicable. However, there has been some new research regarding the effects of misinformation on memory, and in a world where the internet is full of misinformation, this research can enlighten how memory is impacted by what is seen by fellow college students, and society in general.

A study conducted by Adam Berinsky (2017) found that when there is a high frequency of repeated misinformation, the individual is more likely to remember this information. Additionally, when misinformation is repeated when trying to debunk it, there is still an effect of solidifying that misinformation. This leads to the opposite effect of what is intended. This demonstrates a general impact of the frequency of repetition on memory, and this does not just apply to misinformation but general information as well. The more it is repeated, the more likely it is to be remembered.

However, there are other factors contributing to this effect of remembering misinformation, like prior beliefs. There has been research regarding the personal beliefs of individuals and how likely individuals are to remember certain information. For example, research has shown that individuals are more likely to remember information if it matches their previously held beliefs and form a false memory for information that does not fit their views (Frenda, Knowles, Saletan, & Loftus, 2013).

These demonstrate the importance of memory and the type of information that is consumed frequently. The mere act of repetition can impact how information is remembered, and if personal beliefs are added to the equation, then there is a greater impact on how information is remembered. Being able to gather the correct information effectively and efficiently, as well as having an awareness of possible bias, can help gather and remember the correct information.

References:

Berinsky, A. J. (2017). Rumors and health care reform: Experiments in political misinformation. British journal of political science, 47(2), 241-262.

Frenda, S. J., Knowles, E. D., Saletan, W., & Loftus, E. F. (2013). False memories of fabricated political events. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(2), 280-286